By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. CC Licensing for WordPress: Now with AJAX
Now why can't learning objects be associated with ODRL rights expressions in the same way as WordPress now associates Creative Commons licdenses with blog posts. More...
IMS, ADL and IEEE LTSC will Collaborate to Update And Standardize Content Packaging
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. IMS, ADL and IEEE LTSC will Collaborate to Update And Standardize Content Packaging
"The updated specification will be accredited as an IEEE standard and the profile of the Content Packaging specification included as a key component of SCORM 2004, which will be revised to comply with the resulting standard". More...
eLearn Magazine
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. eLearn Magazine
elearn magazine has launched a new look, with an RSS feed, sections and comments. The text-sizing is a bit funky, at least in Firefox. More...
Digesting Alt-I-Lab 2005
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Digesting Alt-I-Lab 2005
Summary of the plenary sessions at the recent Alt-I-Lab conference. Written with a bit of scepticism, the article describes the delegates' intent to resolve intellectual property issue and to look more closely at portfolios and personalization". More...
Can Video Long Tail Boost Learning And Educational Opportunities?
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Can Video Long Tail Boost Learning And Educational Opportunities?
When we look back, we will say that the turning point was Live 8. No, not for African development; there's much more to be done yet. No, it was the turning point for online video - the live AOL coverage was widely touted as vastly superior to MTV's lacklustre effort and the concerts continue to be available online for download (something that will only enhance DVD sales). More...
Distance Education Course Taxonomy
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Distance Education Course Taxonomy
I'm not sure whether it's possible to devote a whole blog to distance education course taxonomy. Then again, taxonomy forms the bulk of a lot of writing in the field. More...
Best of Australian Flexible Learning Community
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Best of Australian Flexible Learning Community
Kudos to Rose Grozdanic who, over the course of the last few months, has pulled together this archive of the materials from the Australian Flexible Learning Community, which operated between 2001 and 2004. More...
Turning Wikipedia into an Asset for Schools
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Turning Wikipedia into an Asset for Schools
Some people think that potential inaccuracies in Wikipedia disqualify it for use in the classroom. Andy Carvin, though, argues that its flaws may be an asset. "When you go to Wikipedia, some entries are better referenced than others. That's just a basic fact. Some entries will have a scrupulous list of sources cited and a detailed talk page on which Wikipedians debate the accuracy of information presented in order to improve it. Others, though, will have no sources cited and no active talk pages". More...
News Flash! MERLOT Peer Reviews 8 Year Old Project
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. News Flash! MERLOT Peer Reviews 8 Year Old Project
The headline exaggerates a bit - the project has only been in the queue for three years. Nonetheless, I think the point is made: "It does make me wonder about the scalability of the oft-desired structured review process of learning content." I've argued for a long time that it is not scalable. More...
Learning Development Cycle: Bridging Learning Design and Modern Knowledge Needs
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Learning Development Cycle: Bridging Learning Design and Modern Knowledge Needs
George Siemens weighs in with another significant paper. Starting with the premise, established elsewhere, that "learning today has moved beyond courses," he outlines a model of four distinct learning domains: accretion, transmission, acquisition and emergence. Each demands a different sort of learning (not 'instructional design') and Siemens accordingly offers a learning development cycle that takes this into account. More...